Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A steep bowl-shaped hollow occurring at the upper end of a mountain valley, especially one forming the head of a glacier or stream. Also called cwm.
- n. A ring; a circle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A circus.
- n. A circle; specifically, a circle regarded as inclosing any space or surrounding any object or group of objects.
- n. Same as comb.
Wiktionary
- n. A curved depression in a mountainside with steep walls, forming the end of a valley.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A circle; a circus; a circular erection or arrangement of objects.
- n. A kind of circular valley in the side of a mountain, walled around by precipices of great height.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a steep-walled semicircular basin in a mountain; may contain a lake
Etymologies
- From French cirque, from Latin circus ("ring, circle"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”) . (Wiktionary)
- French, from Latin circus, circle; see circle. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The show is distinctive from other "cirque" - style entertainment in that the dancers, jugglers, acrobats and contortionists, share the stage with a live orchestra.”
“Paramount in Garuda's approach to "the cirque" is the use of technology.”
“In the visually creative "cirque" style, but with more of a Broadway feel.”
“There is "cirque" beyond Cirque du Soleil, however.”
“But above all else, it is the view to the Westward that we have come here to see – the famous "cirque" of the Croda Malcora.”
“Although "cirque" is literally translated from the French as "circus," Streltsov makes a distinction.”
“cirque" et de "grand-guignol" à propos du "grand emprunt" annoncé par Nicolas Sarkozy lors du Congrès de Versailles en juin dernier.”
“The cirque of hills overlooking the hamlet of Hartsop is seen to best advantage when approaching Kirkstone Pass up Patterdale.”
“Michaël chien de cirque (Michael Brother of Jerry) by Jack London.”
“There is less clowns in the 'cirque du soleil' than the gops doight”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cirque’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Landforms
A Cyclopedia of Landforms.
plain, mountain, canyon, cliff, hill, arch, cave, plateau, mesa, butte, chimney, peneplain and 169 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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Mountaineering
mountaineering terms:
some of these more unusual ones came from the book Nanda Devi: Exploration and Ascentmoraine, cirque, couloir, arete, topee, gendarme, jat, dotial, bhotia, coolies, sahib, bharal and 9 more...
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Words For Novel
viridity, effigy, paragon, congested, acrid, lilting, clandestine, plethora, accolade, sardonic, naïve, reckoning and 285 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (C)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
cacophony, cad, cajole, calamity, camomile, camphor, candlemas, candy apple, canopy, canticle, caparison, caravan and 304 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Landscape
riparian, littoral, talus, fen, ambit, savanna, remnant prairie, shortgrass prairie, tallgrass prairie, marsh, swamp, marshy and 199 more...
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Sudeep's list
New words I learn.
sang-froid, haggard, gazebo, grotesque, cardinal, labyrinth, pejorative, visage, vignette, insouciant, formidable, prescient and 143 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Lay of the Land
all kinds of scapes
steppe, veld, veldt, campo, llano, taiga, krummholz, elfinwood, tundra, sward, lea, heath and 197 more...
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Arranged Words
cosmetic, cosmos, ranch, range, rank, rink, rucksack, crissum, circinate, circadian, circus, cirque and 51 more...
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Glacial Effects
albedo, ablation, crevasse, firn, glacial flour, glacial polish, icefall, jokulhlaup, ice sheet, ice shelf, ice cap, ice stream and 82 more...
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over dale
- elevation
dale, valley, glen, holm, canyon, crevasse, dune, arroyo, wadi, gully, gulch, gorge and 22 more...
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They run rings around me
circumcise, circumscribe, circle, circuit, circumstantial, circuitously, circumvent, circus, circumnavigate, circumboreal, circumspect, cirque and 1 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cirque.
treeseed A cirque is an amphitheatre-like valley, or valley head, formed at the head of a glacier by erosion. A cirque is also known as a cwm in Wales, a coomb or coombe in England, and a corrie in Scotland and Ireland, although these terms apply to a specific feature of which several may be found in a cirque.
_Wikipedia Jan 25, 2008